The New York Giants almost made the playoffs in 2020! Granted, this is because they played in the NFC East, but still. They almost made the playoffs! The New York Giants decided to surround Daniel Jones with weapons to make sure that he doesn’t have any excuses for not succeeding this season. They added wide receiver Kenny Golladay, tight ends Kyle Rudolph, and Kelvin Benjamin, in free agency, and gave Danny Dimes two more weapons in the 2021 NFL Draft. What can we expect from the rookie fantasy football options with Big Blue, for 2021? What can we expect from Kadarius Toney and Gary Brightwell in their rookie campaigns?
FULL NEW YORK GIANTS DRAFT RESULTS
| Rd | Pick | Player | Pos. | College |
| 1 | 20 | Kadarius Toney | WR | Florida |
| 2 | 50 | Azeez Ojulari | DE | Georgia |
| 3 | 71 | Aaron Robinson | CB | UCF |
| 4 | 116 | Elerson Smith | DE | Northern Iowa |
| 6 | 196 | Gary Brightwell | RB | Arizona |
| 6 | 201 | Rodarius Williams | CB | Oklahoma State |
Round 1, Pick 20 Overall: Kadarius Toney, Wide Receiver, Florida (6’0” 193 pounds)
Depth Chart:
WR1: Kenny Golladay
WR2: Kadarius Toney
WR3: Darius Slayton
WR4: John Ross
WR5: Sterling Shepard
WR6: Dante Pettis
TALENT
Toney reminds me of a smaller version of former NFLer Stevie Johnson. He has unconventional route running, varying his speed and angles in his stems to keep opposing DBs on their heels. Johnson famously gave peak Darrelle Revis and peak Richard Sherman fits with these very proclivities. Some want to put him in the top-three in the class, and I can’t go that far, but I would like to say that I am very much in love with his skillset. He would fit alongside the YAC Bros. in San Francisco (Samuel/Aiyuk/Kittle), as he is very tough to bring down and accelerates out of broken tackles very easily. He isn’t a blazer and is an unorthodox runner, but his footwork and wild man tendencies have made him a big predraft crush for me.
2021 OPPORTUNITY
The New York Giants don’t have a very deep wide receiver room unless you count a bunch of WR3 and WR4 guys as “deep.” Toney has a shot to supplant Evan Engram as the #2 target (who was, in turn, supplanted as the #1 target by Kenny Golladay) to become the Deebo Samuel guy in the 2019 Deebo Samuel and Emmanuel Sanders mold for the 49ers. A jack of all trades sort of guy who operates in the area underneath that Kenny Golladay opens up. And honestly? I kind of like it. He could end up with 125 targets and carries, and I wouldn’t get mad at what he could produce with that. Even with Daniel Jones as his quarterback, he could do a lot during his rookie year.
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
I like Kadarius Toney, and I like his unusual route running. It keeps defensive backs guessing, and that’s what you want to happen, right? I am going to come out of all my redraft leagues with Toney, provided I can still get him in round 10+ when real drafts spin up. He has a shot to be one of the ~19% of top-100 rookies who turn in top-36 wide receiver seasons their rookie year.
TALENT
2021 OPPORTUNITY
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Round 6, Pick 196 Overall: Gary Brightwell, Running Back, Arizona (6’1” 218 pounds)
TALENT
Brightwell is urgent, which devolves into frenetic and frantic when he runs, probably because he has very short strides and inadequate vision. He’ll hit some home runs as he can speed away from guys at times. But, he’s a very poor athlete overall, with a 4.62 RAS(!). There isn’t a single speck of green on his RAS card, which means he isn’t athletic at all. He also isn’t a very smart runner, and he has bad patience and vision. Mostly, he makes a cut, or dances a bit, then runs straight ahead and lets the chips fall where they may. Other than that though!
2021 OPPORTUNITY
He’s buried behind a lot of guys, and it would take big injuries to both Saquon Barkley and Devontae Booker for him to even see the field. I doubt he gets any useful snaps this season… and the New York Giants sure hope that I am right. He’s pure roster filler.
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Not worth a look in any redraft leagues, even if he sniffs opportunity in the second half. He’s just not that good.
TALENT
2021 OPPORTUNITY
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
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